Latch for use in a latch system of an excavating machine bucket

ABSTRACT

A rolled latch for excavator buckets that increases duration and facilitates maintenance work since it is changed instead of requiring weld fill, and includes three primary parts: a nucleus, a top lid and a bottom lid. The parts are manufactured of rolled steel. The nucleus remains between the top and bottom lids, and the top and bottom lids are welded to the nucleus.

FIELD OF APPLICATION OF THE INVENTION

This use model is related to the field of earth movement equipment and refers specifically to a latch used in an excavating machine bucket to latch a door of the bucket closed.

BACKGROUND

The latch for excavator buckets meets the function of locking the excavator's bucket prior to beginning loading in order to avoid the cargo falling out once material has entered it and keeps it secure during transport done by the excavator to the unloading place. At the moment of unloading, the bucket unlocks to allow the material to be released in the unloading place, by activating the latch. It can therefore be deduced from the above that this element locks and unlocks many times during the work of loading and unloading an excavator's bucket, and due to wear it requires repair after a certain number of hours of work. This involves maintenance time and time when the equipment is out of service.

In the present day, latches are cast and made from one sole piece, so it is necessary to disassemble and refill the wear with solder and once repaired, reassemble them.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The construction of a new type of latch is proposed, which is formed of rolled steel and comprised of three primary parts: one nucleus and two lids. The lids comprise a repair kit. The advantages of this new rolled steel latch include exceptional resistance to impact, which guarantees a longer useful life and improved mechanical resistance.

All of the above has a comparative design advantage which allows fast maintenance of the component, since to service it only the wear plates must be replaced and filling with solder as with the standard latch is not necessary.

This new latch design has the advantage that when the wear kit is changed, the latch continues to have the same characteristics as when it was new, unlike standard latches that are repaired with solder and have a shorter duration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of the nucleus of the latch with its top and bottom lids.

FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of the nucleus of the latch.

FIG. 3 shows the top lid of the latch.

FIG. 4 shows the bottom lid of the latch.

FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of an excavator bucket with a transparent view of the location of the latch.

FIG. 6 shows a front view of an excavator bucket with a view of the location of the latch.

FIG. 7 schematically depicts operation of the latch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The shovel bucket of some kind of shovels often has a bucket door or cover that is hinged to the shovel bucket. Shovel buckets traditionally include a latch system with a mechanical or electro-mechanical actuating mechanism to operate the latch system and open or close the bucket door. The latch system often includes a latch and an insert, with the latch penetrating the insert to lock the bucket door. The latch mechanism keeps the bucket door locked in a closed position until the actuating mechanism takes out the latch from the insert which allows the door to swing open.

The rolled steel latch (1) for the excavator bucket (6) is manufactured with a combination of rolled steel that provides improved resistance to impact and wear. This is achieved using a nucleus (2) manufactured in high-resistance steel with a hardness of 270 HB to 370 HB. The work faces of the nucleus (2) are covered with wear plates with high resistance to wear. For example, the work faces are covered by top (3) and bottom (4) lids or plates whose surface hardness is of 450 HB or 500 HB. The lids can be secured to the nucleus by welding applied to the perforations (5) present in the two lids and along the perimeter of these lids.

The weld type used to join the top (3) and bottom (4) lids to the nucleus can be of the flux cored arc welding (FCAW) type, shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) type or solid MIG (GMAW) type. The weld area of the perforations is along the entire perimeter of the perforations (5) and the perforations may or may not be completely filled by the weld material.

For the process of changing the lids, the weld zones are gouged along the length of the perimeter of the perforations (5) and the perimeter of the lids to remove these lids.

The latch (1) has a higher resistance to wear, since it has a layer of wear lids or plates on its contact surfaces, specifically the top (3) and bottom (4) lids which are manufactured as stated in 450 HB or 500 HB steel, which guarantees a longer duration than the standard latch.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the nucleus (2) includes a slot (7) that extends through the nucleus. With reference to FIG. 7, in use, the slot (7) allows a latch lever (8) to pass through the latch (1) from side to side. The lever (8) pivots about a fixed point (9) on the bucket (6) and moves up or down moving the latch also up and down and allowing the latch enter or exit the bucket insert (10), locking or releasing the bucket door. 

1. A latch for an excavator bucket, comprising: a nucleus having first and second work faces, a first lid attached to the first work face, a second lid attached to the second work face, with the nucleus being disposed between the first lid and the second lid; the nucleus, the first lid and the second lid are manufactured of rolled steel; and the first and second lids are welded to the nucleus.
 2. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 1, wherein the nucleus is manufactured of high-resistance steel with a hardness between 270 HB and 370 HB.
 3. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 1, wherein the first and second lids are manufactured of steel with a hardness between 450 to 500 HB.
 4. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 1, wherein the first and second lids are detachably attached to the nucleus.
 5. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 1, wherein the first and second lids cover the entire area of the first and second work faces of the nucleus.
 6. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 1, wherein the first and second lids have perforations, and weld material is disposed within the perforations.
 7. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 6, wherein the weld used to secure both lids to the nucleus comprises flux-cored arc welding (FCAW), shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) or solid MIG (GMAW).
 8. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 6, wherein weld material is disposed around at least a portion of the perimeter of each of the perforations and weld material is also disposed around at least a portion of the perimeter of each of the lids.
 9. The latch for an excavator bucket according to claim 1, further comprising a slot formed through the nucleus, the slot being generally parallel to the first and second work faces of the nucleus. 